A sorry performance

Well, MPs got their pound of flesh today, but I'm not sure the rest of us were left with anything nutritious to feast on.
The Parliamentary Committee that questioned the Bosses of The Banks That Went Bang was a bit like naughty-boys-before-the-headmaster at times.
In contrast to the headmaster, though, the Honourable Members displayed a type of wisdom that often surfaces after the event.
An in-depth knowledge of the bloomin' obvious, in other words.
Whether MPs would deliver such prime-time performances if the cameras were turned off is an interesting question.
We might have found out more if the committee had concentrated on forensic examination rather than ritual finger-wagging.
So, what did we learn? That banks bosses are sorry. That not all have banking qualifications. That bank bosses are sorry again. That RBS paid a ludicrous, top-the-market price for another bank. That bank bosses are still sorry. And, er, that's it.
What about the reasons for their decision to set up off-balance sheet entities? What about their decision to fuel the asset-backed securities market? What about their dependance on wholesale money markets? What about the mathematical formulae that informed their complex risk-taking? What about their abject failure to maintain adequate capital ratios – one of the most basic principles of banking?
And what about the relationship between those obscure investment practices and rather large bonuses?
We never got to the bottom of any of it. In all sorts of ways, we are poorer for not doing so.
These complex issues, which take in pack psychology, a collective loss of economic memory, fad-management, woefully under-powered regulation and our old friends hubris and nemesis remain unexplored.
Clearly the responsibility for these failings goes far beyond bank boardrooms. Which may be why the MPs did not delve too deeply.
There are people who can offer us at least some of the answers. While the rest of the media pack was watching the bad banks soap opera, my colleague Lobbydog went and listened to one.